Biography

Celebrated by the New York Times for her “rare talent that can send chills down a listener’s spine even in familiar music,” Jennifer Check sings her first performances of the title role of Ariande auf Naxos with Opéra de Toulon and makes her debut with the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden as the Fifth Maid in Elektra in the 2013-14 season. She also returns Palm Beach Opera to reprise Lady Macbeth in Macbeth and the Metropolitan Opera for its production of Falstaff as well as sings Marianne in Der Rosenkavalier and Falke in Die Frau ohne Schatten. On the concert stage, she returns to Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder in her debut with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and to Verdi’s Requiem in a performance with the Cathedral Choral Society at the Washington National Cathedral.

In future seasons, she will also make her debut with Washington National Opera. In 2012-13, she debuted a quartet of Verdi heroines, all in house debuts: Lady Macbeth in Macbeth with Opéra de Nancy et de Lorraine, Elisabeth in Don Carlos at the Caramoor International Music Festival, Leonore in Il trovatore with Utah Opera, and the title role of Aïda in concert with Berks Opera in Pennsylvania, and on the concert stage, returned to the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. for the composer’s Requiem. She also returned to the Metropolitan Opera to reprise the High Priestess in Aïda in addition to joining the company for its production of Dialogues des Carmélites.

Other recent performances include a triumphant debut as Iphigenie in Iphigénie en Tauride at the Palau de les Artes Reina Sofía in Valencia, the title role of Norma with Palm Beach Opera and the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Sirin in The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh with Nederlandse Opera, Madame Lidoine in Dialogues des Carmélites with Austin Lyric Opera, Lady Billows in Albert Herring under the baton of Lorin Maazel at the inaugural season of the Castleton Festival, and Clorinda in La cenerentola at Spoleto Festival U.S.A. She created the role of Almera in the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters with Gotham Chamber Opera and sang subsequent performances in her return to the Opera Company of Philadelphia. She joined Tokyo Opera Nomori as the Fifth Maid in Elektra as well as for concert performances of Chrysothemis with Seiji Ozawa conducting and has since joined James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra for further performances of the Fifth Maid at Tanglewood Music Festival and Christoph Eschenbach and and the Philadelphia Orchestra. With Opera Orchestra of New York, she sang Agathe in Der Freischütz and Mathilde in Guillaume Tell in young artist performances.

A frequent presence at the Metropolitan Opera, Ms. Check has previously joined the company for Liu in Turandot in the company’s famed Parks performances, Voce dal Ciel in Don Carlo, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, Marianna in Der Rosenkavalier, Dorotea in Stiffelio, the Fifth Maid in Elektra, Lisa in Cyrano de Bergerac, as well as productions of The Nose, Don Giovanni, Lucia di Lammermoor, and on tour at the Salzburg Festival as the Flower Maiden in Parsifal. A former member of the prestigious Lindemann Young Artists Development Program, she made her company debut as Clotilde in Norma.

On the concert stage, Ms. Check has excelled in further performances of Verdi’s Requiem with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Washington Chorus, Reno Philharmonic, and previously with the Spoleto Festival U.S.A., and Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. She has also joined the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder; James Levine at the Verbier Festival for Mahler’s Symphony No. 2; Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for Mahler’s Symphonies No. 2 and No. 8 (Una Poenitentium); Magna Peccatrix in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Grand Rapids Symphony and Virginia Arts Festival, Utah Symphony and Spoleto Festival U.S.A. for Vaughn Willams’ Dona nobis pacem; Colorado Music Festival, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and Phoenix Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9; Charlotte Symphony for Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Spoleto Festival U.S.A. for Beethoven’s Mass in C; and the Greensboro Symphony for Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Orff’s Carmina Burana. She made her Carnegie Hall debut singing Messiah with the Oratorio Society of New York and later performed Barber’s Prayers of Kirkegaard with the same ensemble and joined the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia for Mozart’s Requiem and Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42. Additionally, she made debuts in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in and at The Kennedy Center presenting solo recitals on the Young Concert Artists series.